Train-order deliverer



March. 1931- c. c. RAUSCH TRAIN ORDER DELIVERER Filed Feb. 13. 1950 Patented Mar. 10, 1931 UNITED STATES CLARENCE CLIFFORD RAUSCH, OF EVANSVILLE, INDIANA TRAIN-ORDER DELIVERER Application filed February 13, 1930.

The common practice involved in delivering an order from a railroad or signal station to the engineer or fireman of a passing train, is for the engineer to slow down sufli- 5 ciently to enable an order carrying ring to be caught from the station agent or operators hand by the engineer or fireman as the train passes.

The object of the present invention is to 19 provide improved means located at the signal station or railroad station, whereby train orders for both the engineer and conductor may be automatically delivered to a train, even tl'iough the latter is passing the point at 35 high speed, thereby eliminating the necessity for slowing down and also insuring safe and accurate delivery.

My improved train order deliverer comm prises a novel lunged or swingingly mounted arm earned by the cab of the locomot1ve, and

also by some other car of the train it the conductors order is to be delivered, constructed and arranged for safe and convenient manipulation, and an improved chute or holder located at the signal or railway station for holding an improved ring or rings adapted to contain train orders and so dispose them that the devices on the train will be adapted, when properly manipulated, to catch the rings as the train passes the point of delivery.

The ring holding means is so constructed that when the outermost ring has been caught by the device on the locomotive cab, the suc- N ('eeding ring will automatically feed forwardly so that it may be caught by the device operated by the conductor or brakeman, thereby enabling both the engineer and the conductor to receive their orders.

No claim is made herein to the ring and ringholding means per se as that device is set forth and claimed in a divisional application.

-In the accompanying drawing:

, Figure 1, is a front elevation, parts being broken away, showing the deliver-er in operation;

Fig. 2, is a plan View of the apparatus on the train and at the station. illustrating how the ring is caught when the catcher is exu) tended;

Serial No, 428,218.

Fig. 3, is a front View of the catcher, in folded position;

Fig. 4, is a detail View of the order holding ring; and

Fig. 5, is an end view of the ring holder, parts being in section.

In Fig. 1, a part of a locomotive is shown at l and a part of a railroad station, signal tower, or other suitable structure, appears at 2.

One part of the apparatus is carried by the locomotive '1 and the other part by the struc ture 2, the train order holding rings appear at 3.

The apparatus on the train embodies a suitable attaching plate 4 fastened in any desired manner by screws or bolts passing through holes 5 and tothis plate, there is hinged on a vertical pintle 6, an arm 7 which is adapted to swing. The arm 7 is provided with a handle 8 which may be grasped by the fireman, engineer or trainma-n to draw the arm back into folded position, as shown by dotted lines at the upper part of Fig. 2 or to extend said arm into operative position, as shown by full lines at the upper part of Fig. 2. The pintle 6 is adapt-ed to turn in bearings 9 and it also is slidable vertically in said bearings, there being provided cushion springs 10 surrounding said pintle which enable the arm to move up and down in a cushioned manner so that, regardless of the rocking of the train or because the catcher does not properly line up with the lowermost ring 3, the arm will adjust itself so that it will catch the ring without unnecessary shock or damage resulting in the parts of the apparatus.

The arm 7 carries acatcher 11, made of spring steel, whose feet have a slot and pin connection 12 with the arm so that the catcher may compress and expand, enabling it to enter ring 3, compressing as it does so and then to expand to hold the ring in the constricted or reduced parts 13, as best seen in Fig. 2. This construction prevents the ring from falling off of the catcher.

Spring clips 14, 15, carried by the plate 4, hold the arm 7 inits folded and extended positions. The clip is adapted to co-operengineer or fireman.

The clip 14L at 23 is an inwardly turning closure or door- 24: of arc shape which, due to its form, cannot accidentally open when the catcher l1 strikes the ring, because the tendency of the catcher is to wedge into the ring and such action keeps the door or closure 24 closed. The closure is not only are shaped in length but also in cross sectional shape so that it forms a part of the ring and conforms to the shape thereof.

The operator at thesignal station merely deposits the rings containing the orders in the chute 17 for the train for which they are intended.

hen the station is approached, the engineer or fireman grasps the handle 8 and swings arm 7 outwardly at right angles to the base as shown in full lines in Fig. 2, whereupon the catcher 11 in line with the lowermostor outermost ring 3 which li then caught and passes to the constricted part 13. As soon as the ring is caught, the next ring falls into place so that the conductor or hralceman may also swing a duplicate apparatus located at some convenient point on the train and catch the ring independently of the When the order ring has been caught,- the arm 7 retracted to the dotted line position in the upper part of Fig. 2. The dotted line showing at the lower partotl ig. 2-, illustrates the advanceot the catcher as the train proceeds after the ring has been caught.

What I claini is:

1. An expansibl! and cmitractible catcher carried by a train and adapted to enter an order-holding ring and remove it from its holding means at a station.

2. An expansible and contractible catcher carried by a train and adapted to enter anorder-holding ring and remove it from its holding means at a station, en'ibody'ing a pointed, two-branched strip of resilient metal whose branches are mounted-to move toward or away from each other and which ln-anches have means for retaining the ring caught thereby,

3. An expansible and contractible catcher carried by a train and adapted to enter an order-holding ring and remove it from its holding means at a station, said catcher being pivotally mounted so that it may be folded or extended, and means for holding the catcher in folded and extended positions:

4. In a train order deliverer, mulching means carried by the train embodying a swingingly mounted arm, a catcher carried thereby, and a cushion spring for said arm adapting it to' yield to facilitate the'catchin 'op oration.

a. In a train order deli erer, catching means carried by the train embodying a swingingly mounted arm, a catcher carried tl'lGTQbYWlllCll is adapted to yield upwardly and downwardly, and a cushion spring for said arm adapting it to yield to cushion the up and down movement of the arm to facilitate the catching operation.

In testimonywhereof l aflix my signature.

CLkRENCE CLIFFORD RAUSCH.

Inc) 

